and today i have mostly been...

[steve_earwig]

oh yes indeed, you can tell that by the way I wasn't allowed to walk across the shop floor to get to the office inches from massive machines in operation, and the guy on the rhs of the second picture, weighed down by all his PPE...

Good to hear you're feeling a bit better, hope they get to the bottom of it soon.

Cheers! Oh yes, me too, although I suspect they'll find sod all wrong with me and conclude I simply don't come within their regulated "normals".

[Welly]

*wonders if wiggy is ok...


*sees posted pics of obscure machines and old Volvo


Yay he's fine!

BTW that wood is cheap! in the UK wood is NOT CHEAP, it is very much not cheap indeed

[steve_earwig]

Pssst... wanna buy some oak? It's a bit manky so I'll probably end up burning it...

Dammit, I was just at that timber yard to pay for the wood (delivery Wednesday, weather willing) and I forgot to take a decent camera (stupid). Worse still they were having their elevensies so we had to wait, so I saw even more interesting stuff (stupid, stupid)

[steve_earwig]

I've bin back to the hostable today from some tests, more blood tests (do I have any left?), bone marrow biopsy and chest and sinus x.rays.

I had a crap night's sleep worrying about the tests. Eventually I heard t'wife getting up and I thought it was finally morning. Wrong, 4:30am.

T'wife came with (mainly for support. translations and pointing and giggling purposes). We got a lift in with one of her mates, which is very handy as the biggest stress there is the traffic and finding somewhere to park.

The bone marrow test wasn't too bad in the end. They take it from your breast bone as it's the easiest to get to. The most painful bit was the local anaesthetic. However it went on a bit and I was constantly being told that it might hurt, I would feel a bit of pressure now, this could hurt, pushing a bit harder now, almost there... it was starting to feel very strange and, like having a tooth drilled, I was expecting excruciating pain at any moment. Result: I had a panic attack. Yay.

X-ray was ok, stand against the target, a rather nice young lady shoving me into the right position, deep breath, one from the front, one from the side, then one of my sinuses, mouth open, chin against the board. The trouble was I was still shaking from the bone marrow job and she had to do the sinus one again. I had a vallium with me and I should've taken one (ok, half of one) before hand but I wasn't sure how long I'd have to wait and if I'd even need it, so in the end I didn't. At least, not until we got outside to the cafe and I was still shaking.

The timing worked out ok and t'wife's mate also gave us a lift home.

Afterwards I was a bit sore, dull ache, perhaps a bit like trapped wind but no real pain. Even now I still feel a bit odd, a bit jittery.

I have some more tests on the 10th and then I should be getting some results back. I'm expecting nothing but you never know.

[Doggy]

Guess it's better to have that behind than in front of you?
More so this time next week.
Hope it all works out OK and there's nothing serious to worry about.

[Welly]

I turn to mush in hospitals, just want to get out of there pronto, sorry to hear you had a panic attack, nothing to be ashamed about that's your defense mechanism saying "lets get out of here pronto".

I remember having an epidural 'up' the base of my spine when I had a slipped disc, the needle was huge and I was pouring with sweat as he 'eased' it into the firm structure.

Keep us informed of progress mate, are you feeling better than you were recently? you were lacking energy/chest pain etc..

[steve_earwig]

Cheers guys! Not much in the way of pain now but perhaps still a little bit down on energy but, you know, I've been a bit poorly... I wasn't sure if I was giving too much information there but fuggit, it might help someone who's going for the same thing, or at least provide a bit of a laugh.

I've had a panic attack once before, right out of the blue, so at least I had a reason for it this time. Sadly, unlike most problems of a medical variety, knowing what it is is no bloody help whatsoever. Feeling a bit stupid afterwards is also par for the course

I forgot all about this yesterday:

Outside the hostable there's a long line of minicabs waiting and this was among them. I think I may have photographed it before. Looked pretty good, apart from the awful hubcaps.

Anyway, I slept quite well last night (there's a surprise) and today I have mostly been chugging wheelbarrows full of concrete up to the batcave. Around 33 in all. I did try wheeling a wheelbarrow (through streets broad and narrow) around the yard first and it seemed ok, so Miloš fired up the mixer. The pigsty now has a level floor. Hooray!

[Doggy]

Sounds like good news on the health front. Don't suppose there's any point asking you not to overdo it?
(I'm just as bad, have a tear in one suprasinus tendon so it hurts like hell to lift my left arm. You can guess what fun it is unloading a truck part full of garments on overhead rails).
Had a few panic attacks too, mainly to do with being too hot. I'm usually fine at home, but if I can't open a window or get outside easily it can be really stressful. I get desperate for a cold drink, then panic cause I can't swallow and breathe at the same time. Completely irrational I know, but I can't reason my way out of it. Getting cold fixes it.
I likes the 406, definite visual improvement over what we're starting to get here



Please vomit in the appropriate container

[steve_earwig]

I've only had the two (so far...), the first was just watching telly. I tried breathing into a paper bag for a bit (does that ever help anything??) and then went for a walk up and down the road. After a while I calmed down but I still felt a bit jittery the next day driving, like something bad was going to happen (ok, it's usually like that driving here but this was slightly worse). The courgette biopsy one was mainly over when they said I was done, although I felt a bit jittery for a few hours afterwards. I'll bear the cold thing in mind for next time though, something to try.

Next Wednesday I have an ultrasound on my guts and t'wife's been telling me (rather too gleefully IMHO) all about how I have to prepare. For 3 days before I'm not supposed to eat anything that might make me fart, pretty much the only thing I can eat is palenta. I fricking hate palenta, it looks like puss and tastes like concrete. The evening before I can't eat anything after 6pm and in the morning I can't have anything at all, definitely not coffee. And I have to go there with a full bladder. So they want me half-starved, half asleep, probably with a massive headache and dying for a piss?!

I had some sort of flu, probably gastric, and I'm all better now, ta. All these tests are a waste of time.

I'm starting to think that, if they don't actually find anything wrong with me, these will be my last tests. Ok, if my thumb's dislocated or my leg's hanging off then fine, but just rummaging about to see if they can find something wrong with me? Go and do one.

[Welly]

I guess if it all comes down to "not much to report" at least you'll know your actually in good fettle

That 406 looks right at home there apart from the horrible shoes.....

[steve_earwig]

If there is nothing to report I'm going straight out to eat something unhealthy. Maybe a burger, or perhaps a huge tub of icecream...

Anyway, I seem to have been amassing pictures, so...

Blocking the Pig Door:
The man and his machine

The mortar was fine sand, cement and lime. "Sand" here doesn't look like sand as we know it, more like limestone crushed into various sizes. So 2 heaps were delivered (so far), 2m of finely crushed and 2m of not so finely crushed.

So it begins

The "bricks" are something different too, made out of the same stuff as ceramic flowerpots, light, easy to chop up and probably provide a small amount of insulation (remember buildings here are earthquake-proof, the building structure consists of reinforced concrete piers poured at the corners of the walls)

Miloš cuts a brick in half, with something that looks like an axe-hammer


Up, up and...




Rendering

Which is more of the same with some extra cement, which is basically thrown on with a trowel



Miloš also filled in a load of other damage, cracks etc. while he was at it.

Finito


Miloš plans to do the same to the entire wall, mainly to stop it disintegrating.

[Doggy]

Coming along nicely. Can't decide whether a uniform screed will look right, (love the 'character' as it is).
That's a mighty impressive stash of firewood, but is there some form of Croatian DIY forklift type bodge used to shift it around?

[steve_earwig]

There's more to come

It does look interesting how it is, but it's a mess, even if it was re-pointed there's so much mortar spilled everywhere it'd never look right. I'm not too worried about that side but the front, where it's most visible, is covered in splodges of concrete and various other damage. Loads of work and it'd still look a mess.

The wood comes on pallets (made out of stapled together scrap). They probably use a forklift to move them about at the timberyard but, once delivered, they'll stay there until they're empty and then I'll dismantle the pallets, keeping anything that's straight-ish and use the rest for kindling. So the only DIY forklift will be me.

[steve_earwig]

Pigsty floor
I thought the plan would be to dig all the floors out, ram in a load of rubble and concrete over the top. Well, of course, they don't do it like that here. Miloš wondered why I'd want to generate so much extra work. The floors have collapsed as much as they're going to, we just need to level it up with sand and pour a slab over it. Well, ok, I'll just have to make up the ground outside a few inches to make up for it.

Levelling it up with sand:


Layer of felt:



This is to protect the layer of polythene that stops moisture going into the slab (which you'll have to imagine...)

Reinforcing:

The boards are to make it easier to push a loaded wheelbarrow across the mesh.

I poured 7 loads down each side and then Miloš came in to level it up:


Then I poured 8 loads in twice, with Milođ levelling it up in between:

Followed by another 3 as it approached the door. 7+7+8+8+3=33. My pour back...

Finito


Also, while we were doing that, the wood turned up:


Which we laid out upstairs to continue drying/get it out of the way


Dammit, I can't see that lovely roof now Surprisingly my back actually improved after that lot

[steve_earwig]

Stop the rot pt.1
That afternoon I had to go shopping, but before I left Miloš as me for my chainsaw. Well, ok, but if you go near the walnut I'll use it to cut your legs off...

When I came back he'd cut out the rotten board at the bottom of the l/h wall:


He then left me to paint the bottom of the next board with something to stop it rotting when it will sit on the new, higher, concrete footing:

There it is with the blue lid. I didn't know what it was (the writing and warnings are all in Cyrillic) so was a bit nervous of it but I got t'wife to read it - "B-I-T-U-M.." Ah, ok, I know what that is.


The mosquitoes ate me for dinner here

The next day Miloš decided to tackle the front l/h wall, which was beginning to collapse:



The main board over the doors is now horizontal and the door upright verticle. The rest will get sorted when the bottom board comes out.

He then made forms to pour the new footing:



The nylon is to stop me splattering concrete down the wall

8 loads went in, I just forgot to take a picture